Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) constitute a binding legal agreement between you (“User,” “you,” or “your”) and the operators of Locus (“Locus,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By creating an account, authenticating via Google or email, connecting a YouTube account, or otherwise browsing and using the Locus web application or progressive web application, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our companion Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use Locus.

You may use Locus only if you possess the legal capacity to form a binding contract under applicable law in your jurisdiction.

• Minimum Age: Locus is not directed to children under 13 years of age (or the applicable minimum age for online services in your country, such as 16 in certain EU member states). [Decision for Review: Minimum age requirement (e.g., 13+, 16+, or legal age of majority in your jurisdiction)].
• Accurate Information: When registering via email or OAuth, you agree to provide accurate and current contact details (e.g., a valid email address) and maintain the accuracy of this information.
• Organizational Authority: If you use Locus on behalf of a company, school, or organization, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your authentication credentials, including your email password and active session tokens.

• Credential Safeguards: You must choose a strong password (minimum 8 characters) and refrain from sharing your login credentials with third parties.
• Prompt Notification: You agree to notify us immediately if you suspect or discover any unauthorized access to your account or any other breach of security.
• Responsibility for Activity: You are responsible for all activities that occur under your account prior to your notification to us of unauthorized use.

Locus is a focused web application designed to help learners and developers discover and consume technical YouTube videos in a structured, chronological feed without algorithmic recommendations, distractions, or manipulative engagement loops. The service includes chronological feed generation, personal video queues, favorites, watch progress tracking, timestamped markdown notes, and AI-assisted topic categorization.

Locus provides optional integration with Google accounts and YouTube to allow you to import your followed channels and synchronize recent video uploads.

Scope of YouTube Access & Token Security

Locus requests only the read-only OAuth scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.readonly. Locus accesses your public subscriptions and upload playlists solely to assemble your feed. Locus does not have permission to post videos, write comments, like or dislike media, modify playlists, or alter your YouTube profile.

All OAuth access and refresh tokens returned by Google are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM application-layer encryption before being stored in the Locus database.

Following Channels in Locus vs. YouTube Subscriptions

Importing your YouTube subscriptions allows you to selectively follow or unfollow creators inside Locus. Following or unfollowing a channel in Locus affects only your Locus feed and does not subscribe or unsubscribe your account on YouTube.

Locus interoperates with external third-party services and APIs to deliver features. These third-party services include:

• Google LLC & YouTube LLC: Account authentication, YouTube Data API v3, and YouTube IFrame Player API.
• OpenAI LLC: Natural language processing and automated taxonomy generation for technical video topics via OpenAI API.
• SMTP Infrastructure: Transactional email delivery for account verification and password reset workflows.

Locus has no ownership or control over third-party terms, availability, quotas, or privacy practices. We are not responsible or liable for any downtime, quota restrictions, policy changes, or failures originating from external providers. Links to third-party websites or services are provided for reference only; inclusion does not imply endorsement by Locus.

All rights, title, and interest in and to the Locus software, interface designs, frontend code, backend services, brand name, trademarks, logos, domain names, and original documentation are and will remain the exclusive property of Locus and its contributors.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Locus grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the platform for your personal, non-commercial educational use. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of our software or interfaces unless granted explicit written permission or authorized under open-source licenses governing specific repository components.

All copyrights, trademarks, and intellectual property rights in third-party media remain with the respective content creators, copyright owners, or YouTube LLC.

Videos displayed in Locus are streamed directly via the official YouTube IFrame Player API. Locus does not download video or audio files, strip advertisements, bypass YouTube paywalls or age gates, circumvent digital rights management (DRM), or store raw video streams on its servers.

Locus allows you to compose private, timestamped Markdown notes associated with videos, organize items into learning queues, mark favorites, and submit in-app feedback (“User Content”).

• Ownership: You retain complete intellectual property ownership of the personal notes and text you compose in Locus.
• Service License: You grant Locus a limited, non-exclusive license to host, store, back up, and display your notes solely as necessary to operate the application and provide the workstation experience to you.
• Export Capability: You may export individual video notes at any time as downloadable Markdown (.md) files directly from the video player workstation.
• User Responsibility: You are solely responsible for the content of your notes. You agree not to store unlawful, infringing, libelous, or malicious code or material in your notes or feedback submissions.

When using Locus, you agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities:

• Attempting to probe, scan, bypass, or breach the security, authentication, or token encryption of Locus or connected databases.
• Interfering with, disrupting, or placing unreasonable load on Locus servers, networks, or connected API services (including denial-of-service attacks or quota exhaustion).
• Using automated bots, scrapers, crawlers, or harvesting tools to extract content, feeds, or user data without explicit permission.
• Circumventing YouTube Data API rate limits, backoff intervals, or YouTube terms of use.
• Using Locus to transmit spam, viruses, malware, or phishing attempts.
• Reverse-engineering, decompiling, or attempting to derive backend source code, except where such restriction is prohibited by applicable law.

Locus is provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis. We strive to provide a fast, reliable learning experience, but we do not guarantee that:

• The service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or bug-free.
• YouTube API synchronization will capture every channel upload instantaneously or indefinitely.
• Data stored in Locus will never be lost, corrupted, or altered.

We reserve the right to alter, update, suspend, or discontinue any feature, endpoint, or the entire service at any time, with or without prior notice, without liability to you.

You may discontinue using Locus at any time. You may revoke YouTube permissions via Google Security Settings whenever you wish.

Locus reserves the right to suspend or terminate your account or access to the service at any time, with or without cause or notice, including for violations of these Terms or requests by law enforcement or regulatory authorities.

Jurisdiction Note: Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitation of liability for certain damages. In such jurisdictions, our liability shall be limited to the greatest extent permitted by applicable law.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Locus, its operators, contributors, and agents from and against any reasonable third-party claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable legal expenses arising directly out of:

• Your willful breach of these Terms;
• Your User Content or notes;
• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation; or
• Your infringement of any third-party right, including intellectual property or privacy rights.

We may revise and update these Terms periodically as Locus evolves and as required by legal or API policy modifications.

When changes are made, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this document. If we make material modifications that adversely affect your rights, we will provide reasonable notice (such as an in-app banner or an email to your registered address) prior to the changes taking effect. Your continued use of Locus after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes your binding acceptance of the changes.

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or related to Locus shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of [Placeholder: Governing Jurisdiction / State / Country — to be confirmed by counsel], without regard to conflict of law principles.